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While browsing around a local thrift store, I found a pen cup with a perpetual calendar along its side. I realized that this would be a great low-budget calendar solution for my desk, so I don't need to constantly hunt around to figure out when a certain day falls in the current month.

Thumbnail:

Usage advice:

Print out the attached document, and cut along the solid lines. Pass the strip of numbers through the slots in the frame so the numbered days line up under their correct position in the current month. Sunday-started and Monday-started weeks are included, and you can easily tweak the spreadsheet files to customize for size, language, font, and general attractiveness.

I printed out mine on bright card stock for durability, and so it won't get lost on my desk. I also reinforced the two slits in the frame with some tape before cutting through them with a sharp knife.

This template came about because I needed some dividers for my planner that I'm setting up (yay!) and I'm not a big fan of the plastic stick-on tabs... not sure why, they just rub me the wrong way. SO, I decided to try to make myself some out of cardstock, and after much trial and error I thought, what the heck, maybe someone else can also benefit from all the work I put into this. I hope atleast someone, like me, is in need of tabbed dividers for a classic size planner, and that my templates can be some help!

The Open Office file is probably best because you can actually type in your own tab labels, but if you don't have OO, the pdf file will give you the basic print-and-cut outlines to get ya going.

(Note: the tabs will stick out 3/8” from the other pages in your planner, but the rest of the right edge will be slightly shorter than the other pages. This is normal. It has to be that way to be able to fit 2 tabs on one 8x11” page.)

Caution: I had to change my printer settings to “Borderless” to get these to fit right on the page. I advise running a test page with scratch paper before you try it on your nice cardstock!

A calendar on the left and a 'diary' on the right, I'm going to try to see how this works for me. The pdf doesn't show it as well as I had hoped, but in printing, you will see that I have stolen the 'doane' grid / lines for the 'diary.'

I'm already tweaking it in indesign and will likely post again soon... I stole the mini calendars from screen shots from goog cal & the photo in the center is my own work...

*NOTE*
since I do not plan to print on the backs (I use markers & fountain pens so it would take prohibitively thick paper) and considering the fact that I'm a compulsive sketcher & could easily use the blank realty if it came down to it, the page margins are a bit odd. for the daily calendar & diary, they are set up to sit open; the remaining doane grid pages are set up to sit on top of each other & hence don't have the same center margin... easy to fix if anyone who's actually interested drops me a line.

Usage advice:

Not sure if there are any other (intern) architects out there... but the 'diary' page will be my idp log - drop me a line if you have suggestions or questions, would be great to hear!

I’ve been a huge fan of Leo Babauta’s ZenHabits for awhile now. His combination of Buddhist zen philosophy and advise on living “less” has helped me gain some insight and perspective on freeing myself and time. When he announced he was writing a book, I knew it was going to be special. The Power of Less was released last month and it is, indeed, something special.

The Power of Less is very well written and clearly organized. At 170 pages long, it’s a pretty quick read (at least for me). Which makes the book a living testament that Babauta puts what his methodology to good use. The introduction sets the tone by giving you the reasons why “less” is more. Today’s world runs at breakneck speed. Our jobs ask us to do more, give more, and stay longer to get these things done. The answer isn’t to do more or be faster— it’s to do less. Babauta likens his process to haiku, where you have to strip the non-essential information and dig down to find the core, or what matters most. What Babauta does with his book, then, is to take you through writing a haiku for your life. Using six simple principles. Less is the new more and when you put Babauta’s six principles to work, you’ll learn how to be more effective by doing less.

My days are task and information heavy, with the occasional appointment. On my perpetual quest for the perfect planner, I was browsing the Paper Chase planners and notebooks at Borders when I came across their page per day diaries, a simple lined page with the date at the top that allows you to write whatever and however you want. Two days ago, a forum topic here led me to the Quo Vadis website which had a page per day diary format with a little bit of space for appointments. My first submission to DIYP is my attempt at both of those formats.

Usage advice:

These are MS Word 2000 documents, so they should be easy to manipulate. I use a 0.6 inch margin on the hole punch side and a 0.4 inch margin on the free side. The top of the document is a two cell table so the date can be easily changed and it will still align properly. I spent an afternoon trying to learn OOo draw and using the widgets, but I never got the hang of it.

I'm still in the experimental stage with these, so I've only printed a week's worth. I suppose if I was going to do a lot of them I would just blank out the dates and handwrite them in later.

Okay, second try. It was graciously shown to me that I needed to do a little cleaning up, so I did and am resubmitting this calendar. Please remember that I cannot take credit for the form ONLY for filling in the numbers. I did this by hand and ended up being a little loopy before it was over.

If the graphic is not your style, just click on it and hit the delete button and it will go bye-bye! The background color can also be changed and well as the margins so you can use it for left or right. Just remember to add the same amount to the other margin that you took away from the opposite margin.

Hope this works and remember I deserve no credit for the actual form but someone else here did the form and it can be found in the template directory without dates.

Take a look at the example.pdf to see if you like it!

Thanks.

Usage advice:

If the graphic is not your style, just click on it and hit the delete button and it will go bye-bye! The background color can also be changed and well as the margins so you can use it for left or right. Just remember to add the same amount to the other margin that you took away from the opposite margin.

Syndicate

The D*I*Y Planner product, its name, and its associated designs are owned by Douglas Johnston. Other materials remain the property of their authors and are subject to whatever licenses under which they choose to release them.